Another 20 yards: disaster. One of those moments you know someone’s looking out for you

Sometimes I’m amazed that I’ve made it this far. The crazy near-misses and delayed-intelligence situations I’ve survived have imparted some wisdom, but there are still those days where I just hope my luck holds out one more time.

I was fishing at Millerton Lake back in the ‘80s for stripers and I was up by the Courthouse on the east side of the dam in my grandfather’s boat. The water was dead calm and I was looking for any signs of feeding stripers when I saw some big splashes across the lake on the west side of the dam.

These feeding frenzies usually only lasted a minute or less. I knew I had very little time to get going and reach the thrashing fish a half-mile away before they went down, so I revved up the outboard and headed out full blast.

I’m going about 35 mph when I had a weird feeling: something was telling me to slow down. Why? There was nothing ahead of me but open water. Hmmm...I decided to listen and I slowed down.

Then I see something ahead of me about 20 yards, just barely under the water. My waves exposed it. Yikes, I had forgotten about the island sitting out away from the dam on the Fresno side and I had assumed it was way underwater. In fact, the island and the 6-inch-high concrete foundation on top of it (an abandoned structure?) that I had never noticed before were just an inch or so under the still surface. The dead water didn’t give it away. A cold chill ran through me as I realized what had almost happened. I had seen the feeding fish and taken off. That the small island top was exactly between me and the fish was a scary coincidence. I forgot all about those stripers.

I shudder to think how close I came that day and I still can’t logically figure out what stopped me from hitting the island. I just knew I needed to stop...now! It’s pretty hard to stop me when I’m chasing stripers on top.

As I’ve gotten older and had more “close calls,” I’ve considered how I ever survived them? Sure seems possible there’s someone looking out for me at times. Hope “they” keep it up.

Never give up!